About the Author

Doug Cushman is the creator of many favorite mystery stories for young readers featuring such memorable heroes as the intrepid Aunt Eater, the grasshopper gumshoe Inspector Hopper, and the ace reporter Dirk Bones. He has also illustrated many books written by other authors, including Jack Prelutsky's What a Day It Was at School! He lives in Paris, France.

Doug Cushman is the creator of many favorite mystery stories for young readers featuring such memorable heroes as the intrepid Aunt Eater, the grasshopper gumshoe Inspector Hopper, and the ace reporter Dirk Bones. He has also illustrated many books written by other authors, including Jack Prelutsky's What a Day It Was at School! He lives in Paris, France.

Editorial Reviews

This is part of the "I Can Read" series and the second book about Dirk Bones. In this tale for very beginning readers, newspaper reporter Dirk Bones is trying to track down author Edgar Bleek's missing titles. He discovers that the books are missing when he visits Edgar to interview him for a story. Edgar tells Dirk that he is unable to locate the lone copy of his newest book. The only clue is a strange blue spotted leaf. While at the library trying to identify the leaf, Dirk meets Miss Elsa the librarian who tells him that all of Bleek's books are also missing from the shelves. She, too, has found a blue spotted leaf. While on the way to the local bookstore to see if their books are gone, Dirk encounters a very large green vine with blue spotted leaves. She is a Creepus Crawler Talkus vine, and her name is Lenore. Dirk listens to her story and all ends happily. The ink-and-color washed illustrations perfectly portray skeleton Dirk, Bleek (who resembles Frankenstein's monster), purple-garbed Miss Elsa, and Lenore, whose head is an enormous red flower. Good books for beginning readers are always in demand, so add this one to the collection. Reviewer: Sylvia Firth

Children's Literature - Sylvia Firth

K-Gr 2

Dirk Bones, skeletal investigative reporter for The Ghostly Tombs , is interviewing author Edgar Bleek (a blue-skinned Frankenstein look-alike) when it is discovered that the only copy of his unreleased new book is missing. Bones and Bleek search everywhere but turn up only an unusual spotted leaf. Bones hurries to the Ghostly Library to research the origin of the leaf. He learns from the librarian that more Bleek books are missing, and he recovers a second spotted leaf from the scene. Sure that he has a valuable clue, the reporter hastens through the Green Lagoon toward the bookstore-and the source of the suspicious spotted leaves. Dirk Bones and the other ghastly inhabitants of Ghostly are fresh and attractive characters who will appeal to youngsters who enjoy slightly "spooky" books. Little touches, like the spiders reading in the library and the gleaming eyes along the shelves, will not go unappreciated. The book's design has the comfort of beginning readers in mind, and the simple sentences and dialogue are clear and well supported. This is an all-around fun read with much of the suspense of a mystery, but with a more satisfying ending than many such books.-Neala Arnold, St. Francis Elementary School, MN

School Library Journal

In this follow-up to Dirk Bones and the Mystery of the Haunted House (2006), the skeleton reporter/detective is on the trail of a missing book by Frankenstein monster-esque writer Edgar Bleek. While searching for clues, Dirk finds a blue, polka-dot leaf; he finds another in the library, only to have Miss Elsa the librarian tell him that Bleek's books are also missing from her collection. Dirk's next stop is the bookstore, but when he crosses the Green Lagoon to get there, a swamp monster named Darlene confirms that she has seen the strange leaves before; she then leaps into the water when their owner, a creature reminiscent of the carnivorous plant from Little Shop of Horrors, appears. Instead of longing for blood, Lenore, the Creepus Crawler Talkus vine, longs to read to her babies-aptly called "budding readers." Dirk's solution of a library card saves the day while also sending a message to beginning readers about the importance of libraries. Although informed by horror movies, the illustrations play down potential scariness in favor of humor, making this monster mystery a satisfying, accessible title for new readers. (Early reader. 5-7)